REV. DR. ALEXIA SALVATIERRA
Faith-Based Immigration Advocacy
“I have been working locally, regionally, and nationally in engaging faith communities in the struggle for immigrant justice; I am passionate about ensuring that the church goes deep into its wells to contribute all of our gifts to the broader movements for justice."
Biography
Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra is a Lutheran pastor with over 40 years of experience in congregational (English and Spanish) and community ministry, organizing, and legislative advocacy. She is assistant professor for the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as coordinator of a professional certificate program for Hispanic pastors and church leaders at Fuller’s Centro Latino. She coordinates the Ecumenical Collaboration for Asylum Seekers and serves on the leadership team of Matthew 25/Mateo 25, a bipartisan Christian network to protect and defend families facing deportation.
Salvatierra co-founded the national Evangelical Immigration Table, the New Sanctuary Movement in 2007, and the Guardian Angels Project, a court watch program for unaccompanied migrant minors and their families. For 11 years she was the Executive Director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) and the first director of CLUE-CA, a statewide alliance of organizations of religious leaders responding to the crisis of working poverty by joining low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions, and a voice in the decisions that affect them.
She has been awarded the Fuller School of Intercultural Studies 2019 David Allan Hubbard Achievement Award, the Changemaker award from the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Stanton Fellowship from the Durfee Foundation, the Amos Award from Sojourners, and the Prime Mover fellowship from the Hunt Alternatives Fund. Along with Dr. Peter Heltzel, she is the author of Faith-Rooted Organizing: Mobilizing the Church in Service to the World (Intervarsity Press).